By William Ysaguirre, Associated Press Writer
BELIZE CITY — Flash flooding carried away houses and ripped a child from his father's grasp in Belize, while falling trees killed two people in Honduras, raising the death toll from Central America's twin tropical storms this week to at least nine.
Prime Minister Dean Barrow declared a disaster area Tuesday in southern Belize's Stann Creek Valley, and the government rushed food, water and clothing to more than 13,000 people affected by the floods.
Over the weekend, Pacific Tropical Storm Alma swept over Belize hours before Tropical Storm Arthur roared in from the Caribbean at the Mexico-Belize border.
Witnesses said a couple and their 14-year-old daughter died when a flash flood swept away a house in Stann Creek Valley early Monday. The couple's 12-year-old son is missing.
"The water just come right up and picked up their house and took it down there and mashed it up," Bedford Ritchie told Channel 7....
Flooding in Belize: Situation Report #3 (click here)
Belize districts affected by floods declared disaster areas
The Event:
Tropical Storm Arthur, formed on Saturday afternoon May 31, 2008 and immediately made landfall in northern Belize on the Yucatan Peninsula. Before becoming the first storm of the Atlantic Hurricane Season Tropical Storm Arthur was Tropical Storm Alma which developed in the Eastern Pacific on May 27. TS Alma and Arthur dumped approximately 15 inches of rain across Belize causing flooding in low lying areas and severely affecting the northern and southern districts.
Initial damage assessment reports have indicated a number of houses destroyed, damaged or submerged and approximately 1000 persons affected. Five deaths have been confirmed and two persons are reportedly still missing.
The Prime Minister of Belize has declared as Disaster Areas the Stann Creek District and Gales Point, Manatee Village and Sittee River Village of the Belize District .
Prognosis:
Flood waters have begun to recede, but some areas are still under water....
